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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

My thoughts and prayers are with those in the areas affected by Sandy. Although we had high winds for a day or so and prepared for the worst, we were fortunate not to lose power.

This is my final project as a Guest Designer for Word Art Wednesday. It has been a delight to word with the Amazing Word Art this month.

This week's Word Art is based on Hebrews 4:16 ~ "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." One of the very special people the Lord brought into our lives is Dick Edwards. He worked with my husband back in the 80's. Gary was instrumental in helping him get into alcohol rehab. After completing rehab, he became like a part of our family, even celebrating birthdays and holidays with us. We have so many special memories of special times spent with Dick. I am so grateful that the Lord gave us the privilege of having Dick in our lives until his death a couple years ago and allowed us with grace to help in a time of need in his life.

Be sure to go to Word Art Wednesday to download your free copy of this week's Word Art and to see the amazing inspiration by the talented Word Art Wednesday Design Team.

Techniques:

Word Art ~ I printed this week's word art on some lightly patterned paper, then inked over it to bring in the color of my background paper before distressing. I inked first, then distressed to keep the white edges.

Stitching ~ I stitched randomly here and there on this page including this stitching above the word art, several rows below my title and some fun x's on the side of my corrugated board

Handcrafted Flowers ~ I created several of the flowers including the blue one here and off white one in the photo below using my new Bitty Blossom dies by Donna Salazar. The leaves were also cut using Bitty Blossoms. I created the blue flower below using Donna's Grand Peony dies and added a jewel brad to the center. The rest of my flowers are an assortment from Petaloo and May Arts.

Layering ~ Under the photo I used a number of distressed layers including patterned papers, Donna Salazar's Corrugated Board by Zutter, vintage dictionary page -torn and inked, burlap, and cheese cloth. Distressing was done with my Distrezz-It-All. I just don't know what I would do without this handy little distressing machine these days!! :-)

Gears ~ These Donna Salazar Want2Scrap gears were so much fun to work with. I inked them with Donna's Mix'd Media Inx in Patina - I just dabbed it randomly, not covering the entire gear, I then dabbed some Ranger Paint Dabbers in copper. I used my heat tool close over the paint until it bubbled up, then did the same with the gold Paint Dabber.

Corrugated Board ~ The photos don't do justice to the distressing on the corrugated board. Of course the first thing I did was run the edges through my Distrzz-It-All. Then the ridges and edges were painted with a mix of metallic green and black paint. Once that was dry, I coated with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint which gave a shiny crackled finish. Finally I added some fun stitching.

Heat Embossing ~ next to the matted photo I stamped Donna's Lace Corner image using her Mix'd Media Inx in Jasmine, and embossed using seafoam white embossing powder.

Pearl Flourishes ~ You can get a lot of mileage out of your flourishes by cutting them apart to use on different parts of your page like I did with this sweet Zva Creations flourish.

Paint Splatter ~ In the top corner, I used a stiff paint brush to splatter some metallic paint behind my title for a bit of extra texture and dimension.

The
team at ScrapThat! would like to take the opportunity to say thank you
to our amazingly talented designer, Marilyn Rivera, who has been an
asset to our team during her term ending this month. We wish you all the
best in your future endeavors.

What an amazing combination to work with our fabulous November ScrapThat! Kit and the amazing Sketchabilities sketch!! Here is my take:

Created using the November Main Kit

I added some mixed media products, eyelets for my lacing, embroidery thread and tiny rhinestones for the small flower centers ~ all things that most of us have in our stash.

I created a card box with these engagement photos across the front of the lid for Joseph and Rachel's December wedding. When I saw this sketch, I thought it would be fun to use them for this page.

Here are a few close-ups with some tips and techniques:

Chipboard Door ~Be sure to stop back in November for my tutorial on how I created the amazing distressed texture on this chipboard door.

Tulle Lacing ~ Normally I enjoy lots of distressed layering, but this paper has so many gorgeous details like the fabulous dragonfly that I decided to showcase rather than cover. To get the feel of the large mat in the sketch, I added lacing across the page. I set two rows of eyelets for my lacing. The tulle was cut into three two-inch strips, then threaded onto a large yarn needle to pull it through the eyelets. I added a twist between each set of eyelets as I was lacing.

Dragonfly ~ You can't see it too well in the photo, but in real life this dragonfly sparkles. I brushed Distress Stickles onto the wings and body of this gorgeous image. When dry I hand stitched the edges.

Flower Clusters ~ I created the delicate yellow flowers using the kit cardstock and my Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch set. I used the kit pearls for the large and medium flower centers and some tiny rhinestones from my stash that I colored with alcohol ink. The daisy flowers were created with Donna Salazar's Bitty Blossom die set. I fussy cut leaves from Serenade Vines to add a couple branches to each cluster. (My close-up shot was taken before I added the vines; however, you can see them in the large photo.)

Paint Splatter ~ I dipped a small, very stiff paint brush into gesso and pulled my finger across the tip to achieve the splatter. You could also use an old toothbrush. Be prepared to have dirty hands for this one!!

Paint Drip ~ Easy peasy - just a blob of black gesso, then a bit of page tapping to get the drip to form. The trick here is giving it time to dry so I don't put a big mark on my drip, and yes I've done that trying to work with my page before it's dry, so I've learned to do this before I go to bed and let it sit overnight. The flower placed in the torn opening is another rolled flower from the Bitty Blossoms dies.

I am entering this in the Bo Bunny Sketch Challenge to use two or more photos, a tag, and one of these photos for inspiration. I actually pulled inspiration from each of them.

I was inspired by the scattered flowers in this one, although mine are a creamy yellow.

This kit is full of amazing products including Wild Orchid Crafts Flowers, gorgeous
ribbon, Maya Road chipboard doors and stickpin, Prima Alphabet set in two colors, Zva adhesive pearls and much much more!

This is our lovely daughter-in-law on her wedding day with her bridesmaids this past December. I used the main, EAO, and FAO kits. I also added a piece of a corrugated box, embroidery floss for stitching, a Dusty Attic holly piece I won from a ScrapThat! Blog Hop several months ago, and the gem centers on the fabric flowers.

Here's a little tip for you. The border frame was created with some Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page punches. They can only punch a frame in certain sizes that did not fit what I wanted for this page, so I fussy cut the two corners around the natural lines of the punched image and overlapped them to make the sweet fan shape in the upper right hand corner. The bottom left corner of my frame is covered by my flower cluster, so I didn't need to be quite so carful there.

"Amore"

Our son and Rachel giving their private vows to each other. I used the main, EOA, and FAO kits for this page. I added the dragonfly trinket, doily and a left-over piece of pearl flourish from my stash. I did a lot of fussy cutting on this one and used a mix of gorgeous kit flowers along with some handcrafted ones from the cardstock in the main kit.

"Birthday Card"

Since one of my layouts is being saved for our October 30 Sketchabilities Reveal. I thought I would create a quick card from some of my extras from the kit. I used the main and FAO kits. I also used some embroidery floss for my stitching and a Bo Bunny rub-on for my sentiment.

Be sure to stop back on Tuesday to see one more November Kit project
I created for the fabulous Sketchabilities Sketch.

I will also be sharing more details on these layouts as well as a
tutorial throughout the month.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our Blog Hop features 6 fantastic blogs from our Design Team

Our
SPECTACULAR November Blog Hop Prize is a ScrapThat! August Main Kit
Featuring the gorgeous Charlotte's Dream by Kaisercraft!!

To qualify for this month's FABULOUS Prizeyou must complete the following:

* Visit each blog listed on the hop to see what each Designer has
created using this month's kit and sketch (comments are very much
appreciated)

* Each Designer's blog hop post will feature a word, to make up a secret
sentence, collect these words along the way and follow the directions
provided in ScrapThat!'s forum when you are all finished.

* You must become a FOLLOWER of each blog along the way and LIKE us on our Facebook Page!

* Post the ScrapThat! Blinkie on your blog

* The last stop on our Blog Hop is our Forum, follow the link provided andcomplete the remainder of the Blog Hop Instructions

The Blog Hop ends Sunday, October 28 at 12 PM CST
The prize MUST be claimed within 3 days of the forum announcement which will also be made on the ScrapThat! Blog

If left unclaimed a NEW winner will be chosen ~**Winner will pay actual shipping costsfor sending the kit from Canada.**
Shipping costs will be invoiced via PayPal.

Prizes won during the month will be mailed out the
first week of the following month.

Due to Customs clearance, international mailings
sometimes take 30-75 days to receive.

Our
Design Team is partnering with Sketchabilities for their upcoming
October 30 Sketch Challenge! Be sure to stop back here next week to
see the rest of our Design Team's inspiring work with this gorgeous
November Kit and the reveal of the Sketchabilities new sketch!!

Prepare to be inspired by Sarah's ScrapThat! kit creations. She
resides in Ontario, Canada with her husband and son. She loves the
creative process of scrapbooking and enjoys creating her own flowers and
embellishments. Her gorgeous work can be found on her blog, Scattered Pictures and Memories.

Be sure to stop by on Friday for the FABULOUS ScrapThat! November Kit Reveal and Blog Hop!

This is my second post of the day. Be sure to scroll down and check out my GDT project for Word Art Wednesday - A lovely wooden cross I altered using mixed media techniques for the beautiful Word Art of the week.

Good Morning! It is looking to be a beautiful day here in Ohio. I hope it is lovely where you live!

I am so enjoying creating projects with the gorgeous Word Images at Word Art Wednesday this month!! Today I would like to share an altered cross I created featuring Word Art with Matthew 6:21 ~ "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." This is such a great reminder to reflect on what I am treasuring and to realize that is where my heart will follow.

Be sure to drop by Word Art Wednesday to see what their fabulous DT has created with this Word Art!

Techniques:

Word Art ~ I printed the Word Art onto a piece of cotton canvas. No, it was not printable canvas. I printed the Word Art onto a sheet of printer paper, then cut the fabric to size and adhered it over the printed Word Art using repositionable adhesive. I then ran it through the printer again. I pulled out some threads on each side and inked to distress.

Handcrafted Flower ~ I just bought the Donna Salazar Bitty Blossoms Die set. I have been wanting this die set for months, and was thrilled to finally create with it!

Trinkets ~ I have an assortment of fancy metal trinkets, corners, keys and clocks, and I pulled from my stash of goodies for these.

Mixed Media ~ I started with a simple, wood stained cross I found at a thrift store for less than a dollar. I sanded lightly and applied a rather thick coat of modeling paste to the front and sides of the cross, then took some punchinella with square openings - kind of like mesh and pushed it into the wet modeling paste here and there to give texture. When Dry, I brushed on white gesso. I let this dry again and spritzed on several shades of glimmer mist and spray ink - mostly browns.

Vintage Hymn Page ~ I am so blessed to have been given two small, vintage hymnals that are tattered and well - falling apart. Because they are in such rough shape, I don't hesitate to tear them apart. I found the hymn, Wonderful Peace, which includes the words treasure and heart. I tore them out, inked just a little, then Mod Podged to the cross along with a couple other snippets. Once the Mod Podge was dry, I applied some crackle accents over the hymn pieces. While still wet, I sprinkled on a few silver micro beads.

Mod Podge and Lace ~ Once all this was dry, I cut a piece of black lace and placed it on the cross. I brushed the entire cross, including the lace with Mod Podge and allowed to dry before adding the metal trinkets and flower.

Alcohol Ink ~ The heart clock was too shiny silver looking, so I pulled out my alcohol inks and dabbed some onto the clock and hands.

Thanks for all who went to May Arts to vote for my You Mean the World to Me layout that I entered in their Ink It Contest. It was selected among the top 10 winners for the contest. Your amazing support means so much to me!!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Thanks for joining me today for Tips and Techniques from my Forever layout, the third and final page created with the gorgeous ScrapThat! October Kit.

Tips and Techniques:

Handcrafted Flower ~ I created the large pink flower with Donna Salazar's Grand Peony die set and added pearls from the kit to create the lovely center. I lightly inked the petals with the handy Prima ink included in this kit.

Misting ~ I glimmer misted slightly above where my photo was to be placed and then misted lightly with water to encourage the drips that you see below the photo dripping into the flower cluster.

Title ~ The felt letters were a bit grey so I inked them with distress ink to coordinate with my page. I do NOT recommend doing this. Because the letters are felt, they did not dry. I kept patting with paper towels until they no longer removed ink when patting. :-)

Fussy Cut Flowers ~ I added some flowers fussy cut from paper scraps to the edges of this cluster.

Scrunched Ribbon ~ I put some strong double sided adhesive onto my paper where I wanted the scrunched ribbon, then starting on one side with a long ribbon, started scrunching and randomly laying the ribbon onto the adhesive, then when I was finished, trimmed the other end. In a couple places where the ribbon wanted to pop up, I went back and added a bit more adhesive.

Wet Paper Scrunching ~ I wanted a depression in the top of my mat to set this lovely wood Prima clock. I wet the paper and pushed it down with my fingers and let it sit to dry before tucking the clock behind the little depression I created. I sanded the edges of the clock for a more distressed look.

Hand Stitching ~ the edge of the center mat was hand stitched with crochet thread. I have discovered that a single strand of crochet thread looks gorgeous and is easier to stitch with than several strands of embroidery floss.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

I'm back with more tips and techniques this morning from my Love of My Live layout created using the fabulous ScrapThat! October Kit. The photo on this page is Elizabeth and Andrew's favorite shot from their engagement photos.

Tips and Techniques:

Twine Flowers ~ I created the twine flower from jute twine. My tutorial for these flowers can be found here.

Handcrafted Flower ~ I created the pink flower with Donna Salazar's Grand Peony die set, and added one of the kit pearls to the center.

Wood Flower ~ I used a rock salt, mist, crackle technique on the wood flower. I'll be posting a photo tutorial on this technique next month.

Altered Ticket ~ I liked the hand on this ticket, but wanted different words to go with my layout, so I painted around the hand with gesso, inked the edges with black soot Distress Ink, and hand wrote "True Love."

Torn Edge ~ I tucked in the prima wood clock behind the torn edge.

Drip ~ I put a blob of gesso below the torn edge and tapped my paper to encourage the drip to form, then placed a flower created with the Donna Salazar Rose Creations die set at the top of the drip.

Scalloped Circle ~ This was so easy peasy. I cut a border strip, then snipped each of the scallops and arranged them around the layered circles, adhering each piece as I went.

Swirled Twine ~ I adore the look of something swirling across my page and through the flower clusters, dots of glue hold the twine in place.

Colored, Stenciled, Modeling Paste ~ I spread the modeling paste over my stencil, allowed to dry, then used Distress Markers to color. I also used this technique in the bottom corner for my title and above the scalloped circle without the color for the phrase "I adore you!"

Hand Stitching ~ I used a circle template by In Stitch'z to pierce the stitching holes in my layered circles.

Layered Embossed Butterfly ~ The tutorial for these sweet butterflies can be found here.

Friday, October 19, 2012

I hope you are having a delightful week and have some fun times planned for this weekend. I have some scrappy projects due next week, so I get to do some creating this weekend. Today, I'll be spending the day creating with my friend, Mandy who has some craft fair projects to work on. Then Saturday and Sunday I'm heading to a crop at our local craft store, Pat Catan's, for their monthly crop.

Today, I would like to share with you the details of my First Dance Layout created with the amazing October ScrapThat! Kit featuring Prima's Tea Thyme papers. This is our son and his beautiful bride sharing their first dance on their wedding day, December 2011.

Tips and Techniques:

Transparency Butterflies ~ These sweet butterflies were created by printing butterfly images onto inkjet transparency paper. While the ink was still wet, I covered the images with clear embossing powder and heat set. To prevent the transparency paper from shrinking and warping, I kept the heat tool further from the image than I normally would, and took my time melting the embossing powder. While the embossing was still hot and wet, I added more clear embossing powder and heat set again. Once it was set and dry, pulled the wings forward from the body for some added dimension.

Hand Stitching ~ I drew a curved, looped line around the border of the page stopping at the edge of the bricks and horizontal paper strip. I used this line to pierce stitching holes for my hand stitching.

Ceramic Stucco Bricks ~ I sprayed the back of my brick stencil with some removable adhesive, allowed it to dry, then placed it on my page where I wanted a brick wall image. I used a craft spatula to spread the Ceramic Stucco Medium over the stencil. After carefully removing the stencil, I used my heat tool to dry, then moved the stencil to coordinate with the bricks already on the page and repeated this process around the page. Once all the brick work was dry, I spritzed with several colors of inks and mists to get the brick color I was looking for. I love that they are mottled and the color varied just like it would be on an actual brick wall. You can't see it in the photo, but the walls in the reception hall were exposed brick, making this a perfect background for this page.

Altered Flowers ~ I altered the Petaloo flowers with several shades of mist and gesso. For the flower on the left side, I removed the center and used the pearls from the kit to create a new one. The Prima clock was a perfect addition to this cluster.

Photo Mat Layers ~ The layers behind the photo were fussy cut from scraps of the Prima paper. Two sheets of paper had lovely frame pieces that were just the right size to cut and layer. The colors didn't go with this page, so I misted them and inked the edges. I also added a doily from my stash that I misted before tucking into the layers. The square photo mat and layout edges were distressed with my Zutter Distrezz-It-All by Donna Salazar.

Vines ~ The swirled vine tendrils were created with wires cut from the kit flowers and leaves. I simply wrapped them around a small diameter paint brush, then pulled and bent them to look more natural.

Fussy Cutting ~ I added some fussy cut flowers to this cluster. I like to get a lot of milage out of my papers, so whenever possible I cut out paper that is covered up by other papers. For instance when I have a frame around my page, I cut it about 1 inch wide, so I still have a 10 x 10 inch piece of paper to use for photo mats, cutting flowers, fussy cutting . . .

If there are any techniques here that you would like a step by step tutorial for, please let me know!!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

What a lovely week!! Our children all gathered here yesterday to celebrate Elizabeth's birthday and to watch Elizabeth and Andrew open their wedding gifts. It is always so wonderful to have the family together. The fall leaves are turning more vibrant with each passing day. The gorgeous color won't last long, but it sure is beautiful right now!!

It is reveal day at Word Art Wednesday. What an amazing privilege to work with this gorgeous Word Art!! This week's Word Art comes from my favorite book of the Bible. James 1:17 ~ Every good gift and perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights. This verse is such a beautiful reminder that while we live in a fallen world and unfortunate things happen around us and to us, our Lord gives us perfect, beautiful gifts. My life has been blessed in so many ways!

One of the items I created for Elizabeth and Andrew's wedding was the card box for the gift table. What a perfect verse to include on their box:

Handcrafted Flowers ~ I had some sheer white fabric in my stash which I cut into concentric circles. I lit a tea light candle and using tweezers heated the edges of my fabric circles. As the edges melted, they curled upwards creating lovely flower petals. A dab of FabriTac in the center of each petal works perfectly to put these beauties together. Then, I applied a circle of Art Institute Designer Dries Clear glue to the center of each flower to hold the marine blue microbeads ~ the color of the lovely bridesmaid dresses.

Vines ~ I'm always looking for a bargain and a couple years ago during the after Christmas markdowns, I found a huge berry vine that I thought would work perfectly into some of my paper crafting projects. I just painted the bright Christmas red berries with a coat of white gesso for an elegant vine for the box. The leaves were left-overs from the wedding party flowers.

Cut Work ~ Their names were cut with my Gazelle. Such a handy machine that will cut any font I have downloaded onto my computer.

Word Art ~ Because I was placing the Word Art across the lid of the box, I needed to cut the Word Art apart. I wanted it to be all one connected piece, so I did the cutting in Photoshop. I opened the Word Art file in Photoshop, cropped each line, then lined up the individual pieces in layer windows before welding them together. I resized it to fit the 12 inch width of my box and printed on a 12 x 12 piece of pearlized vellum from my stash. It takes a long time for ink to dry on vellum. It's best to let it sit overnight to dry completely before cutting and applying to your project.

Decorative Paper ~ I used elegant flocked paper to decorate the box. When selecting the box to decorate I made sure it was no larger than 12 x 12, so 4 sheets of paper would cover it. I created a lid to fit the box and covered it with black fabric before decorating.

~ May Arts/Helmar Ink It Contest Reminder ~

I have a scrapbook layout posted over at the May Arts blog. If you would like to vote for me, I would appreciate the support. Leave your vote in the comment section, and you will be entered into a drawing to win some of their gorgeous ribbon!!

FTC COMPENSATION DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

I am blessed to work in an industry I love. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am currently working as a freelance designer in some capacity for the following companies: Scraps of Elegance and ScrapBerry's. While I am compensated by these companies in product, I maintain the freedom as an independent designer to say what I truly think of their products. I will never recommend something that I don't personally use and enjoy.